A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy

The first comprehensive study of the philosophical achievements of twelfth-century Western Europe.

Peter Dronke (Edited by)

9780521429078, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 9 July 1992

508 pages
22.6 x 15.3 x 3.4 cm, 0.74 kg

'[A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy] belongs not only in all college and university libraries but also in the private libraries of all serious medievalists.' Speculum

This is the first comprehensive study of the philosophical achievements of twelfth-century Western Europe. It is the collaboration of fifteen scholars whose detailed survey makes accessible the intellectual preoccupations of the period, with all texts cited in English translation throughout. After a discussion of the cultural context of twelfth-century speculation, and some of the main streams of thought - Platonic, Stoic, and Arabic - that quickened it, comes a characterisation of the new problems and perspectives of the period, in scientific inquiry, speculative grammar, and logic. This is followed by a closer examination of the distinctive features of some of the most innovative thinkers of the time, from Anselm and Abelard to the School of Chartres. A final section shows the impact of newly recovered works of Aristotle in the twelfth-century West.

Preface
Contributors
List of abbreviations
Introduction Peter Dronke
Part I. Background: 1. Philosophy, cosmology, and the twelfth-century Renaissance Winthrop Wetherbee
2. The platonic inheritance Tullio Gregory
3. The Stoic inheritance Michael Lapidge
4. The Arabic inheritance Jean Jolivet
Part II. New Perspectives: 5. Scientific speculations Charles Burnett
6. Speculative grammar Karin Margareta Fredborg
7. Logic (i): from the late eleventh century ot the time of Abelard Martin M. Tweedale
8. Logic (ii): the later twelfth century Klaus Jacobi
Part III. Innovators: 9. Anselm of Canterbury Stephen Gersh
10. Peter Abelard D. E. Luscombe
11. William of Conches Dorothy Elford
12. Gilbert of Poitiers a note on the Porretani John Marenbon
13. Thierry of Chartres Peter Dronke
14. Hermann of Carinthia Charles Burnett
Part IV. The Entry of the 'New' Aristotle: 15. Aristotelian thought in Salerno Danielle Jacquart
16. David of Dinant and the beginnings of Aristoteliansim in Paris Enzo Maccagnolo
Bio-biographies
General bibliography
Index of manuscripts
General index.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600 [HPCB]